"On the day the tabernacle, the Tent of the testimony was set up, the cloud covered it. From evening till morning the cloud above the tabernacle looked like fire...Whenever the cloud lifted from above the Tent, the Israelites set out; wherever the cloud settled, the Israelites encamped. At the Lord's command the Israelites set out, and at His command they encamped."
Numbers 9:15-18
It's hard to believe the time has come to leave this sweet little nest that has been my home for nearly four years! How I've loved decorating and entertaining and trying new recipes and writing and resting and ministering here.
I'm remembering my first official night in my first grown-up home. I had only lived in Connecticut for six weeks, but a houseful of single girls gathered to raise a glass of wine and some prayers as we sat in a circle in my bare living room. {Many of those women have moved away since, but still remain my close friends.} We christened this little home, asking God to bless and use it.
When I think of all the late nights with good friends, the college girls' dinners, and the high school Bible studies that have happened here since, I'm blown away. What a good gift.
I'm sooo excited to move in with my friends the Dorsches for a fun summer with their three girls! But as I was flying home from Seattle a couple of weeks ago, I suddenly felt a sense of fretfulness and panic about leaving this place that I have loved so much. I opened my Bible and started reading some Psalms, when my eyes settled on Psalm 23:6:
Surely goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever.
The house of the LORD. Bethel! (To be specific, it's not the exact Hebrew word used here...but it's hard to miss the similarity.)When I first set foot in Connecticut to interview for my job at Walnut Hill, I knew that I wanted to live in this quaint New England town because of its Hebrew name.
But my truest, most perfect Home is not here on Greenwood Avenue; it is hidden in Christ--Beth'el, the house of God. My home here is just a shadow, and the town of Bethel a reminder that goodness and love will follow me no matter where I go.
Just a few minutes later, on that same Seattle flight, I read this in a book for my pastoral counseling class:
In wilderness, there can be no illusion of a permanent home...When we see through God's eyes, we will not pretend that the tent we live in today can approximate the mansion in which we are destined to live.
Michael Mangis, from Care for the Soul
Once again, it seems, God is asking me to follow the Cloud of His presence, to pick up and move without knowing what is to come next. It's kind of scary to pack up all your belongings and put them in storage, not knowing where your next home will be. But this is life as we trust in God's timing and plan. Wherever the Cloud settled, the Israelites encamped (Numbers 9:17).
If you called any member of my friend Sarah's family today, he or she would answer the phone with a hearty "He is risen!" The obligatory (and joyful!) response is "He is risen, indeed!"
I love that! He is risen, and it's beautiful to reflect on that truth on this Resurrection Sunday.
My family had a lovely Easter celebration in Savannah, GA, where we've convened for a long weekend. (Taylor and I made a little road trip down from Birmingham.) We attended a service at Independent Presbyterian Church this morning, where the senior pastor is a Gordon-Conwell grad. Lowell Mason, the musician who wrote the music to several famous hymns, including "My Faith Looks Up To Thee" (one that the Walnut Hill band played last weekend at the Strand!) and "The Wondrous Cross" played the organ there back in the 1820s.
Probably my favorite thing about IPC was that the choir loft is in the back of the church, situated in a balcony high above the congregation. It's so powerful to be led into worship from the back of the church--especially when the sung worship includes the Halellujah chorus from Handel's Messiah. Needless to say, Mom was in tears!
I want to know Christ--yes, to know the power of his resurrection and the participation of his sufferings, becoming like him in his death and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead.
It's Passover, and if I weren't currently touring some of my favorite Southern cities (and people!), I would love to be attending a Seder meal somewhere tonight.
Seder meals--the true Jewish ones--are such instructive celebrations of the heart of God for His people. During the Passover meal, Jewish families impart the history of Israel's redemption to their children through the reenactment of the first Passover. Appropriately, today's Lenten readings include Exodus 12, the Passover story.
And today, on Maundy Thursday and on many other days throughout the life of the Church, Christians reenact Passover through the method given us by Jesus himself, the Lord's Supper. We read in Matthew 25 that it was on the first day of the feast that Jesus invited his twelve closest friends to observe the Passover with him. There in the upper room, Jesus breathed new meaning into the Passover wine and unleavened bread, commanding them to remember him each time they partook of this meal. Still, they did not understand that he was their final Passover Lamb, the one who would remove the barrier of sin forever.
We find in this meal the significance in John the Baptist's remark, "Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!" (John 1:29). To a first-century Jew, it would have been remarkable to think that one lamb could absolve the whole world of its sin. R. Kent Hughes points out (in a book excerpt in Jesus, Keep Me Near the Cross) that during the Passover feast, more than two hundred thousand lambs were slain in Israel. He continues:
"John mentions in [chapter 18] verse 1 that "Jesus left with his disciples and crossed the Kidron Valley." A drain ran from the temple altar down to the Kidron ravine to drain away the blood of sacrifices...So when Jesus and his band crossed the Kidron [following the Passover meal and their vigil in Gethsemane], it was red with the blood of sacrifice."
I love the lengths Jesus went to in order to help his disciples understand what was happening.
Since I'm in Birmingham, visiting my baby sister at her new home away from home, Samford University, I went to a Maundy Thursday service tonight at Christ the King Anglican Church, which meets in Beeson Divinity School's beautiful Hodges chapel. I'd never been to a Maundy Thursday service before, but it was a beautiful way to begin Easter weekend--and I loved worshiping with Evangelical Anglicans.
Dr. Lyle Dorset, a Beeson professor and the father at Christ the King, spoke of the way in which the Communion meal ushers in Christ's presence for us. Before we took the bread and wine together, we sang one of my favorite Easter/Communion songs, "Behold the Lamb of God" by Keith and Kristen Getty.
I know this post is getting long, but I have to share these lyrics with you:
Behold the Lamb who bears our sins away,
Slain for us: and we remember The promise made that all who come in faith Find forgiveness at the cross.
So we share in this Bread of life, And we drink of His sacrifice, As a sign of our bonds of peace Around the table of the King.
The body of our Savior, Jesus Christ, Torn for you: eat and remember The wounds that heal, the death that brings us life, Paid the price to make us one.
The blood that cleanses every stain of sin, Shed for you: drink and remember He drained death's cup that all may enter in To receive the life of God.
And so with thankfulness and faith We rise to respond: and to remember. Our call to follow in the steps of Christ As His body here on earth.
As we share in His suffering, We proclaim: Christ will come again! And we'll join in the feast of heaven Around the table of the King.
My March Bible two-part Bible Study for myMISSIONfulfilled posted a while ago--I just noticed today! The studies are on forced labor and God's heart for justice. Here are links to them individually: Out of Bondage and The Kingdom is Near.
Can I ask a favor of you? Would you read them, and then comment on this post or send me a message with some constructive criticism and feedback? Especially if you're a woman in her 20s or 30s (but even if you're not)...
1.) On a scale of 1-10, how helpful were the articles to you in understanding the Scriptures? 2.) Did the questions provided provoke deep thought, or were they more geared toward "Sunday school answers?" 3.) When you think about getting in the Word, what kinds of resources from a online zine like myMISSIONfulfilled would be helpful to you? 4.) Is there anything that would motivate you to read MMF's Bible studies every month? 5.) Is there anything else you'd like me to know about these particular articles or online Bible studies in general?
Let me explain: Several years ago, I had some traumatic horseback riding experiences that changed the sport for me. Six years out of the saddle have only aggravated the fear. So when I brought Aiden Magee here in September, I knew I had my work cut out for me. I believe that fear is decidedly NOT of God, so it seemed like a worthwhile spiritual pursuit as well as a practical one. Only, it's been much harder than I imagined.
Don't get me wrong--I looove Aiden and have so much fun with him. But there's this alarming degree of anxiety that rises up in me when things aren't going 100% perfectly with him...and especially when I even try to imagine riding him out on the trails. It's alarming because I'm not used to feeling this way--I'm mostly an I-can-tackle-anything kind of girl. I wouldn't generally consider myself an anxious person. So this fear, this lack of peace in my life, is pretty foreign. It has made me think of the Jewish idea of shalom. The Hebrew word we often translate "peace," also equates "wholeness" in Jewish culture. So a lack of peace signifies something that is broken.
My riding PTSD of sorts started with riding incidents during a season of spiritual darkness in my life, so no doubt there is a connection there. But more importantly, I think my inability to conquer this obstacle has challenged my idea of myself as someone who's competent. I want to feel confident, together, and in control--but riding taps into a place where I feel insecure.
In our can-do Western mindset, we try to devise a means to fix ourselves. We don't want to be vulnerable, needy, broken. This is the downfall of all religion--even our American brand of easy-believism Christianity.
But the reality of walking with Christ is that we must acknowledge our need. Like the Buddhists and the Muslims, we'd like to think that we can get to Him on our own. Really, His grace is the means for even our pursuit of Him. I am learning this afresh as I face my own brokenness. The nerdy head knowledge of my Reformed education is making its home more and more in my heart as I grasp my humanity.
Yesterday's One-Year Bible passage from the New Testament was Luke 7:36-50, where the "sinful" woman hears that Jesus is in town and rushes to the home where he is eating. Overcome by his presence, she begins to weep. Then kneeling before him, she washes his feet with her tears and lavishes them with perfume from an alabaster jar. I haven't been able to get her out of my head.
Jesus' response to her vulnerability is profound: "Your faith has saved you; go in peace" (Luke 8:50). "Go with my shalom, dear one. Your faith in me has made whole the broken things in you. No more fear."
What does all of this have to do with Lent, you ask? Well, a lot, I think. If it weren't for our broken humanity, what need would we have for a Sovereign who put on flesh to conquer the things that have bound ours? By his wounds, his brokenness, we are healed (Isaiah 53:5).
In this season of fasting and prayers, I'm increasingly thankful for the practical living that makes it all real in my heart.
The Lord is near. Do not be anxious for anything, but in everything by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, make your requests known before God. And the peace (shalom!) of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
It's shocking what you hear on the news these days.
Today I learned that the end of the world is coming on my 26th birthday--May 21, 2011.
I say this tongue-in-cheek, of course. The idea that anyone can predict the day or the hour when Christ will return is preposterous according to Jesus himself, quoted in the pages of Scripture:
"Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away. But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven nor the Son, but only the Father. Be on guard! Be alert! You do not know when that time will come." Mark 13:31-33 (also Matthew 24:35-36).
The folks who presume to have the authority on when Jesus will return clearly contradict Scripture in their predictions. But that doesn't stop them from claiming to hold to biblical teaching. Members of a movement called Project Caravan patrol the southern part of the country in a long line of RVs, canvasing the nation with their message: "Have you heard the awesome news? The end of the world is almost here! It begins May 21, 2011--the Bible guarantees it!"
Project Caravan's umbrella organization, Family Radio, isn't the first movement to make such outrageous claims about the end of the age, and it certainly won't be the last. Just like all of those who presume to have the inside scoop on the matter, they will be wrong. God knows, and according to His Word, He'll be keeping it hush-hush until that Day.
I feel so sad knowing these folks are giving their lives for a misguided gospel full of half truths. The Message the apostles gave their lives for, the Good News (or "gospel") they proclaimed, was that Jesus' Kingdom is already being ushered in. In Acts 5:42 we read that "Day after day, in the temple courts and from house to house, they never stopped teaching and proclaiming the good news that Jesus is the Messiah." We can know Him in the here-and-now, even as we wait for Him to "make all things new" (Revelation 21:5) because He gave himself up to make things right. That's Great News! Wonderful News! That is News Worth Giving Your Life For.
The Awesome News is not merely that Jesus is coming again, but also that He's already come. And we don't have to wait until May 21 for life in Him to start.
Year's End O Love beyond compare, Thou art good when thou givest, when thou takest away, when the sun shines upon me, when night gathers over me.
Thou hast loved me before the foundations of the world, and in love didst redeem my soul; Thou dost love me still, in spite of my hard heart, ingratitude, distrust.
Thy goodness has been with me during another year, leading me through twisting wilderness, in retreat helping me to advance, when beaten back making sure headway.
Thy goodness will be with me in the year ahead I hoist sail and draw up anchor, with thee as the blessed Pilot of my future as of my past. I bless thee that thou has blinded my eyes to the waters ahead.
If thou has appointed storms of tribulation, thou wilt be with me in them; if I have to pass through the tempests of persecution and temptation, I shall not drown; if I am to die, I shall see thy face sooner; if a painful end is to be my lot, grant me grace that my faith fail not; if I am to be cast aside from the service I love, I can make no stipulation.
Only glorify thyself in me whether in comfort or trial, as a chosen vessel meet always for thy use.
Santa Claus was always a big part of our Christmas celebrations. My faith in him was secured the year he came to my Grandma and Grandpa Russell's house on Christmas Eve to give each of us granddaughters an early gift. My three older cousins suspected that this man in the red suit was a friend of theirs from Penn Avenue Baptist, but at five, I was enamored. The best part was when Santa leaned in close to whisper in my ear. When he told me that Jesus was the reason for celebrating Christmas, I was ecstatic. Santa Claus is a Christian! That sealed the deal. I was hooked.
I have always felt that my encounter with the "real" Santa Claus that day was significant spiritually. I hear a lot of talk in Christian circles about how harmful it is to "lie" to children about Santa...or how including him in our Christmas celebrations is pagan and detracts from the true meaning of the holiday. But somehow, I never felt lied to. And when I finally put aside my affections for the man in the red suit, an even stronger faith in Jesus remained.
My mom and I were talking about this on Christmas Eve--in the kitchen, where we have so many of our heart-to-hearts--and she said that she had been thinking recently about how much the anticipation of Santa Claus parallels our waiting for Jesus. The more I thought about it, the more I thought that was just really beautiful.
And it's true--those nights when I would make myself sick thinking about Christmas morning, those Christmas Eves crammed in a double bed with my three cousins when none of us could sleep for the excitement, they really were just a foretaste of what's to come.
It's been a long time since I slept cross-ways in a bed with my cousins on Christmas Eve, but Taylor and I have carried on the tradition. Every year, she camps out in my bedroom and we read Jolly Old Santa Claus, just like our mom and her sister did when they were little girls, and just like my cousins and I used to. It's a fanciful tour of Santa's workshop that makes you feel just a little homesick for days when Santa was real and you could count on his coming. The illustrations are stunning. This year, Taylor has been going through the Advent readings, too--so we read them together after the Santa book. The parallels were incredible:
For tonight is the night...at long last it is here...it is the night before Christmas! You must be very quite now and hop into bed quickly, for Santa Claus is ready to leave. The stars are twinkling in the blue sky above...and all the world is hushed and still, waiting for this magical night. For tonight...yes, tonight is the night he comes! And such excitement there will be when he comes!Jolly Old Santa Claus, by Maryjane H. Tonn
Say to those with fearful hearts, "Be strong, do not fear; your God will come...He will come to save you."Isaiah 35:4
"Shout and be glad, Daughter of Zion. For I am coming, and I will live among you," declares the LORD.
Zechariah 2:10
The Spirit and the Bride say, "Come!" And let him who hears say, "Come!" He who testifies to these things says, "Yes, I am coming soon." Amen. Come, Lord Jesus.Revelation 22:17, 20
Maybe it sounds sacrilegious to write about Jesus and Santa in the same post. But I really believe that Santa was a vessel God used to teach me about expectant waiting. He pointed me to the God who has come and who will come again for us. May we always cultivate longing for Him.
Tonight is a little sad because it is my last night in my apartment before I head to Illinois for Christmas. I know, I know...it seems odd to bemoan going home to my parents' house for a week. And actually, I'm really excited about the time in Bloomington. It's just that I love Advent here on Greenwood Avenue so much! And once I head home, it'll be over for another year.
I've been thinking about Advent and how we cannot divorce it from Easter, mostly because we had been preparing for a Communion service for the last Sunday of Advent. As usual, Lauren Winner's words (from Girl Meets God) are gold:
“The waiting is meant to be a little anxious. I picture Jane Austen heroines. They are never quite sure if their intended will come. We Christians can be sure; we can rest easy in the promises of Scripture. But we are meant to feel a touch of that anxious, handkerchief-waving expectation all the same.
“The calendar tells us that all this culminates on December 25, but really the whole season slouches toward Easter…Even His birthplace takes us to the Last Supper: Jesus, the Bread of Life, is born in Bethlehem, bet lechem, “house of bread,” and at the Last Supper, He will break bread for us, and then on the Cross He will break His body. Nothing in Scripture, even the names of birthplace towns, is coincidence.”
Oh gosh, I just love that so much! Bethlehem, "house of bread." Rabbinical reading like that reminds us that God is the inventor of narrative and literary style.
Even His birthplace takes us to the Last Supper. And so it seems fitting that we would take Communion at Christmastime, which is what we did at the 6:30 service this past Sunday. At the Lord's Table, we remember that Jesus was flesh and blood for us and that He shall come again. We remember that we are family, united by that blood, which pulsed through His tiny body in the manger and poured out of Him on the Cross. We remember that Christmas is not about presents and feasting and jollity, but about a King who came to die in order that His Kingdom might be ushered in.
As I've thought on these things, the Christmas hymns that mention the Cross have become so precious to me. Not many of them do, when you really stop to listen. But I've been loving "What Child is This" the past couple of days (particularly Sarah Story's rendition--you can get it for free from Noisetrade.com), as well as one that's new to me from Red Mountain Church--it's called "Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silent." It's particularly poignant in thinking about the Lord's Supper.
King of kings, yet born of Mary, As of old on earth He stood, Lord of lords, in human vesture, In the body and the blood; He will give to all the faithful His own self for heavenly food.
This Christmas, may you rejoice in the One who came and died a real, fleshly death for you.
Isn't it amazing what riches are stored up for us in the character of God and in Scripture?
I'm marveling tonight, once again, at the miracle of the Incarnation and what it means for us.
Tonight it was Augustine who opened up the storehouse to me. In an adaptation for Come, Thou Long-Expected Jesus (do I quote this book enough?!), he wonders at the the "Word made flesh" (John 1:14), quoting 1 Peter 1:24-25: "all people are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field; the grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of the Lord endures forever."
Interpreting that text, he writes, "What is 'the Word became flesh?' The gold became grass. It became grass for to be burned; the grass was burned, but the gold remained."
It's an incredible allegory, isn't it? And straight from Scripture, no less. I love the picture of our Jesus, who "was with God in the beginning" (John 1:1), who was and is God, humbling Himself to be flesh, making Himself grass for us. Or as Paul puts it in Philippians 2:7, he "made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant." The Greek word is ekenosen, which means "he emptied himself" (or poured himself out). And yet we know, and Augustine reminds us, he could not cease being God. The grass was burned, but the gold remained.
May we never forget to marvel at this holy wonder, the gold made grass, the Word made flesh. Everything else hinges upon it, and every promise through it is fulfilled.
For no matter how many promises God has spoken, they are "Yes" in Christ. And so through Him the "Amen" is spoken by us to the glory of God. 2 Corinthians 1:20
I hung a little sign in my kitchen for the holidays that says "Comfort and Joy." I love that phrase because it's cute and it seems sort of kitchen-y (you know, like comfort food). But as I was washing dishes the other day, I realized that there's a lot more weight to those words than the cute, jolly meaning we attach to them when we slap them on a little wooden sign.
In Hebrew, the word for comfort, nacham, is translated "strength." Comfort is more than just some feel-good emotion, more substantial than a bowl of mac and cheese or twice-baked potatoes. Comfort is strength from the Lord.
Dr. Eakin was the first to define the word for me in these terms. He did so in our Hebrew Prophets class, when we talked about Isaiah 40: "'Comfort, comfort, my people,' says your God...He gives strength to the weary" (vv. 1, 29). That was years ago, my junior year at Richmond. But this Christmas, the idea of "comfort (strength) and joy" has special significance.
It's been a hard year for our family. With Grandma Russell's passing in October and Grandpa Russell's chaotic bout of kidney cancer and his passing in August, there have been so many tears and so much grief. When I was home for Thanksgiving, I was struck by how different things feel, and that's tough, especially around the holidays. My mom, in particular, is just now fully able to grieve. As I thought about all of that, I did a little word search (how I love thee, biblegateway.com!) for "comfort and joy."
In Jeremiah 31:13, the Lord declares, "I will turn their mourning into gladness; I will give them comfort and joy instead of sorrow." What a promise! I'm claiming it for my family this Christmas.
The beautiful thing about Isaiah 40 and Jeremiah 31 is that both point undeniably to the coming of Jesus. He, God incarnate, is the ultimate source of strength. In Isaiah 40, the prophet declares the word of the Lord: "Speak tenderly to Jerusalem and proclaim to her...that her sin has been paid for" (v.2). Then he proclaims the words that John the Baptist will fulfill, "A voice of one calling: 'In the desert prepare the way for the LORD'" (v.3). And Jeremiah 31 is one of the most significant passages in Hebrew Scripture, in which God promises to make a new covenant, to write the Law on his people's hearts (vv. 31-33). Obviously, this is a promise that can only be fulfilled by Jesus, the Word (Heb. "Law"--See my October 2008 post on Simchat Torah for more on how modern Messianic Jews understand this connection.) In the Incarnation, we find a resource to help us face every hardship.
As we sat by my Christmas tree over wine and good conversation Thursday night, some friends encouraged me to let the tears come this Christmas, to sit in the grief for a while, to put aside any expectations of how Christmas is supposed to be--all happy and jolly and light. This verse lends the encouragement needed for that different kind of Christmas, a Christmas where I may cry and be sad. I don't have to manufacture joy or strength--God has promised them to me, in His timing. In Jesus, He will turn my mourning into gladness.
because in spite of all this brokenness it's good He's weaving it together for good
These are words from my dear friend, Sarah. You would just love her if you knew her. She is wise and poetic and full of grace, even on gchat, which is where she typed out these words to me sometime last year when I was living in Nashville. Her words, which are scribbled on the page of my quote book (a little book where I stash sweet nuggets of truth from good books and movies and such), came to mind last night. This world in which we find ourselves is so very broken, indeed.
I've only been back in the office for two days after my Cayman getaway, but our church is currently standing with some friends who are facing grave injustices. Yesterday some of the staff gathered to pray over a heartbreaking situation and today my team sprung into action to minister in another set of circumstances. I'm feeling drained tonight, but also strangely encouraged by the role God permits us to play in advocating for justice.
Sharon Cohn, the Vice President of International Justice Mission, wisely said (in a speech at InterVarsity's Urbana conference), "God is not knocked backward by the massiveness of the need. It does not blur the contours of each person He so passionately loves and He so doggedly pursues." I cling to those words on days like this, when I feel worn out in ministry and overwhelmed by the need. The speech is worth watching. View it here.
Oh, Jesus, how we long that you might bring your Kingdom in its fullness! May we be used of you as agents of justice to usher it in.
Both of the Bible studies I lead in my home are studying Paul's letters. In the high school girls' group we're doing Romans (their choice--can you see why I love them so?!) and in the young adult girls' group we're going through Ephesians. In both studies, we're nearing the part about "wives submit to your husbands." Uhhg--that is such a hard part, isn't it? I find myself just needing to be reminded of what masculinity and femininity are supposed to look like, so that I can maybe make just a little sense out of these hard passages that speak of gender roles.
As if on cue, I came across possibly the best sermon I ever heard on masculinity the other day. This was the very last sermon I heard Carter Crenshaw (my pastor at West End Community Church in Nashville) give before I moved from the Music City to New England. West End is now posting Carter's sermons online, which is great news for me because I love to listen to him!
Before I ever visited West End, my sweet friend Shelley told me how Carter performed her brother and sister-in-law's wedding service, and how it was beautiful and poignant, and how Beth Moore (a friend of theirs through LifeWay) loved it so much that she endorsed it on her blog! (I later read the blog post--you can check it out on the Living Proof blog here. I can just picture Carter being "up in their stuff" and patting Rich on the arm over and over...he's so dear.) I attended West End for the better part of a year, and people from other churches would often tout Carter as the best pre-marriage counselor in Nashville. When I met with him one-on-one a couple of times, and especially when I heard this sermon on masculinity, I began to see that they weren't just being gracious. This guy means business!
The message is taken largely from a book by John Piper (one of my favorite theologians) and Wayne Grudem (the guy who wrote my 1200+ page Systematic Theology textbook). But Carter lends his wonderfully enthusiastic and studied flavor to it.
So the point is, listen to this sermon. If you're a dude, it will make you want to shape up and be a real man like Jesus. If you're a girl, it will make you want to quit flirting with fire and find a guy who seeks after Jesus with his whole heart. Seriously. It's good stuff. And if you struggle at all with Paul's telling the saints that wives should submit to their husbands, and husbands should lay down their lives for their wives, maybe it will bring just a little clarity to the whole messy issue.
A friend at the church office sent me a link to an article posted on "Relevant" magazine's website in which the editors picked their favorite spiritual Christmas tunes. (Read it here.) The story is complete with a free playlist of the songs that you can listen to over and over simply by creating an account with Lala.
In the spirit of great Christmas music, I've created my own Advent playlist for you on Lala. It comprises a couple more obscure hymns (imagine that!) than "Relevant's" list, is far less trendy, and excludes Relient K's "I Celebrate the Day" (great melody; the theology is just a little limp), but there are one or two overlapping songs. Unfortunately, there were also a couple of songs I wanted to include that Lala doesn't have...
1. Third Day's Christmas Offerings is consistently good. This song sticks out to me because it's one of my favorite carols in general.
2. I admit, Sufjan Stevens is "weirdly weird"...or "beautifully weird," depending on who you talk to. But I fell in love with "Once in Royal David's City" when we sang it at Third during Advent a couple of years ago. And I've come to love Sufjan's quirky version of this neglected hymn on his Songs for Christmas album.
3. Amy Grant's Breath of Heaven is old school, and maybe a little cheesy. But ever since I played Mary in a Christmas musical at Vale Baptist (the musical was called "The Perfect Gift," and I can still sing a great rendition of "No Room for You"), I have loved imagining what it must have been like to be the mother of Jesus. So something about this song gets to me!
4. O Come, O Come, Emmanuel might be my favorite all-time Christmas hymn. Bold statement, I know. But yall know I love songs that talk about Israel--there's something powerful about reflecting on God's hesed, or "covenant faithfulness" to His people. Rosie Thomas' version of the song is, I think, inspired. I usurped this one from "Relevant's" list, and I just love it!
5. I first heard Jars of Clay's rendition of Little Drummer Boy in my Grandpa Corwin's minivan back in middle school. It's still the best version of the classic I've ever heard. Very back-in-the-day Jars sounding.
6. Union grad Chris Rice's "Welcome to Our World" is a long-time favorite that ties manger to cross beautifully. Lala's version (from an album with a title too lame to mention...) is a letdown compared to the track from Deep Enough to Dream. If you're going to purchase it on iTunes, I'd highly recommend the latter.
7. Emmanuel, from Chris Tomlin's Glory in the Highest: Christmas Songs for Worship, doesn't sound especially Christmasy, but you've got to love the rich lyrics.
8. Of course I can't resist including some Caedmon's Call in any playlist! City on a Hill produced this compilation album last year, and Caedmon's Babe in the Straw is a favorite.
9. Hillsong put out a Christmas album a couple of years ago called Celebrating Christmas that to be honest, I could take or leave but for this one song. O Rejoice is this powerful invitation to behold the God-man. It's easily my favorite modern Christmas song. Lala doesn't feature it for some reason, but you can listen to the full MP3 here.
10. Sandra McCracken sent an e-mail the week before last announcing a new album she'll be releasing in the next few months--it's a sequel to The Builder and the Architect, which was a hymns project. The new album includes a Luther hymn called This is the Christ, and as a Christmas treat, she offered a rough version of the recording to fans via Noisetrade. You can download it for free just by forwarding the link to five friends. Just scroll down the left-hand side of this blog to find the widget. I've loved the song and can't wait for the rest of the album!
11. I couldn't have been more thrilled on Sunday when the Walnut Hill praise band broke into Come, Thou Long Expected Jesus during the offering. Since I've been reading a book by that title (see previous post), I have meditated on the words of the song some this season. After singing it in church on Sunday, I decided to look for an audio version to download. I found several that I really liked--Chris Tomlin and Christy Nockles do a great rendition on Tomlin's Christmas CD and Red Mountain Church, one of my favorite hymns resurgence groups has a beautiful modern arrangement as well. But my favorite is by Daniel Renstrom, a relative newcomer on the worship/hymns scene. His album was produced by Nathan Nockles, and from what I can tell it's really solid. It reminds me of the worship band at West End--just that beautiful blend of rich, old songs put to really quality guitar-driven music. You can listen to a clip of the songhere.
So there you have it: my favorite Christmas tunes. I hope they inspire you to press in to the heart of God this Advent Season!
In my quest to find Christmas afresh this year, I ordered a book of Advent meditations called Come, Thou Long-Expected Jesus: Experiencing the Peace and Promise of Christmas.It's a collection of 22 essays and sermons by theologians such as John Piper, Tim Keller, Martin Luther, Charles Spurgeon, and R.C. Sproul. It also includes a sermon excerpt of Skip Ryan's, who is the chaplain of Asian Access and a Dallas friend's pastor at Park Cities Pres! The book draws its title from Charles Wesley's hymn by the same name. Check out the lyrics of this lesser known hymn--they're incredible!
These readings have been a beautiful complement to the daily Advent Scriptures. I thought I would share a little snippet with you in order to endorse the book. Keller writes:
'In the first chapter of Luke, Elizabeth says, "Blessed is she who has believed what the Lord has said to her will be accomplished." Elizabeth is saying to Mary--and to us--"if you really believe what the angel told you about this baby, if you take it in, you'll be blessed.'
"But our English word 'blessed' is so limp and lightweight. In English we use blessed to mean something like 'inspired.' But in the Hebrew and Greek Scriptures, the word for blessed meant something much deeper than that. To be blessed brings you back to full shalom, full human functioning; if makes you everything God meant for you to be. To be blessed is to be strengthened and repaired in every one of your human capacities, to be utterly transformed.
"What Elizabeth is saying to Mary, and what Luke is saying to us is, 'Do you believe that this beautiful idea of the Incarnation will really happen? If you believe it, and if you will take it into the center of your life, you're blessed, transformed, and utterly changed.'"
I love that! To internalize the Incarnation is to be transformed into all that God intended us to be (i.e. to be regenerated by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit).
So even as this week feels a little frantic, I'm determined not to "bustle about but only in vain" (Psalm 39:6), but in all things to "believe that what the Lord has said will be accomplished" (Luke 1:45).
Rob Tims, a friend, former boss, and a favorite theologian, wrote a great blog post about alcohol. Rob looks at the issue of alcohol from a systematic theological standpoint, meaning he's not just proof-texting Scripture, but considering what the whole Bible says about the topic. I think you'll find he presents a really balanced view. I especially appreciated the questions he recommends Christians ask to hone their Biblical understanding of alcohol. Read the article here.
I've been listening to Mark Driscoll's (Mars Hill Church in Seattle) sermon series on doctrine while I work out. It's kind of like systematic theology in a nutshell. I'm loving the refresher on some of my classes at SBTS from last year and would commend the series to you if you're looking for a little theological nibble. (You can download it for free on iTunes under Mars Hills Church.)
In his sermon on creation, Driscoll quotes Nobel Prize winner and Harvard biology professor Dr. George Wald:
"When it comes to the origin of life, we have only two possibilities as to how life arose. One is spontaneous generation arising to evolution; the other is a supernatural creative act of God. There is no third possibility…spontaneous generation was scientifically disproved one hundered years ago by Louis Pasteur, Spellanzani, Reddi, and others. That leads us scientifically to only one conclusion- that life arose as a supernatural creative act of God…I will not accept that philosophically because I do not want to believe in God. Therefore, I choose to believe in that which I know is scientifically impossible, spontaneous generation arising to evolution."
Hmm. So a Harvard biology professor is basing his understanding of the origin of life on a personal philosophical preference? Pretty scary, when you consider how widely accepted this disproved theory is in the scientific community today. (If you don't believe me, check out my post on the documentary Expelled.)
I love what Driscoll says to encourage the Christian who isn't sure what he believes in the old earth/new earth debacle that divides so many Christians today:
"To my Christian brothers and sisters, who say 'I believe in one God who created the heavens and the earth and I don't know how old the earth is...,' do not feel ashamed and embarrassed that somehow you are negating scientific methodology and coming to your presuppositions with biases. You are coming to the same logical conclusion as a Nobel Prize winner, and you are accepting the facts where he is unwilling to, by his own admission."
For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse. Romans 1:20
I got to spend the holiday weekend in Richmond for my sweet friend Goodie's wedding. Y'all know how I love Richmond. I feel blessed to the sky each time I get to go back and visit my alma mater, spend time with dear friends, and dwell in rich community at Third Pres (and Tikvat Yisrael, though, sadly, not this weekend). I love it, love it, love it!
On Sunday night I got to fellowship with a wonderful couple from church (and their four sweet kids--my cup runneth over!). They mentioned a sermon given several weeks ago by Corey Widmer, a pastor at Third and truly the best teacher I've ever had the privilege of learning from on a weekly basis. (Serioulsy, y'all--he rivals some of my favorite famous Christian teachers, and he teaches at my little church in Richmond!) The sermon is titled Real Sex: Biblical Wisdom for Sex and Sexuality, and you can listen to it here. It's part of a sermon series on the book of Proverbs, and each of the messages in the series are outstanding.
I wondered throughout the sermon if perhaps the message was named with Lauren Winner's book Real Sex: The Naked Truth About Chastity in mind, and Corey did mention the book toward the end of the sermon. What a concept for our Christian culture--where sex is often diminished in Christian circles as something to be avoided and even despised! That we could "get naked" (read: honest) about the topic of chastity (sexual purity by the standards of a given culture, ours being dictated by the gospel of Christ) is pretty revolutionary. And it's needed.
Lest you listen to the message and say I didn't tell you...this sermon is not for the faint of heart! It is actually a little graphic, but it's a holy sort of graphic, fitting for those who desire to be chaste. And what I love is that Corey not only addressed married people and single adults, he seized the opportunity to speak to teenagers very candidly about their bodies and sexual desires. Winner's book is much the same. It addresses the sexual issues of single and married people and offers a Christian ethic to glorify God in and through sexuality.
So here's my little plug for my very favorite pastor/teacher and my very favorite writer on a subject that is taboo in many Evangelical circles. Check them out--and don't be surprised if they make you blush :)
The second part of my two-part Bible study for myMISSIONfulfilled has just aired. You can read it here. (Read Part I of the study here.) Writing Part II was a convicting adventure for me--I hope the passage challenges you as well!
This month marked my first shot at writing the Bible studies for myMISSIONfulfilled.com, and it was a truly worshipful experience! The first one hit the site today and you can read it here. Stay tuned for the second one, to appear later this month.
